Tonsillotomy with Coblator or Tonsillectomy? One-Year Postoperative Follow-up Results

After post tonsillotomy patients most commonly develop chronic secondary tonsillar hypertrophy or recurrent infections because of compensatory lymphoid hyperplasia or changed oropharyngeal dynamics. Hence, a clinical dilemma exists regarding which procedure is to be chosen between tonsillotomy with coblation and conventional tonsillectomy with reference to long-term outcomes. This study made it possible to develop and provide comparative evidence regarding the safety, efficacy, and postoperative quality of life of patients who underwent either coblator-assisted tonsillotomy or traditional tonsillectomy after tonsillotomy, an area lacking longitudinal data. It is a prospective cohort study on 60 post-tonsillotomy patients with symptomatic tonsillar disease. Thirty participants underwent tonsillotomy using coblation, and thirty were assigned to conventional extra-capsular tonsillectomy. Preoperative and at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperative patients were evaluated with a visual analog scale for pain score, postoperative bleeding rates, infection recurrence, and quality of life (QoL) scores using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). It was shown that cobllator tonsillotomy decreases significantly postoperative pain (mean difference 10.1) (p < 0.01); decreases recovery time (mean 5.2 days, range 3-14 days; mean difference 4.4 days) (p < 0.01); results in fewer complications, with comparable recurrence and QoL improvement at 1 year of followup. In the case of infection recurrence, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05).